This version of the beloved comfort food classic, chicken pot pie, with its flakiest all-butter pie crust, rich, savory gravy made with cream cheese and pieces of white chicken, is the BEST.
There are just some comfort food recipes that are a must-make for everyone. Classic dishes such as mac & cheese, spaghetti with meat sauce, and a whole roasted chicken, to mention a few. There’s nothing quite like a homemade, bubbling chicken pot pie to warm your tummy and heart, so friends, put this one on your list.
Most of this recipe is based on my leftover turkey curry pot pie, which is one of my favorite post-Thanksgiving recipes. Chunks of chicken breast, onion, celery, carrot, potato, and peas are all mixed together in a delicious, creamy chicken pot pie sauce with cream cheese and celery seed to make up the filling. This is a traditional chicken pot pie, and my simple, all-butter, fail-proof butter crust makes a perfect top and bottom layer. I defy you not to go back for more—it’s a real keeper.
Ingredients
A great thing I love so much about this pie is how full of a flavorful, saucy, rich filling it is. In my chicken pot pie, I include potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and peas.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this chicken pot pie recipe:
- Butter
- Yellow onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Russet potato
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh thyme
- Garlic
- Celery seed (I love the flavor this adds, but you could leave it out)
- Chicken breast
- All-purpose flour
- White wine, for deglazing your veggies (nothing fancy but one that you’d drink). Alternatively, you could use sherry cooking wine.
- Cream cheese (this adds a creamy tang and richness to the sauce)
- Chicken stock
- Frozen peas (no need to defrost, they’ll cook quickly once you add them to the filling)
- 1 double crust, pie dough—homemade, or store-bought
- Egg and half and half or milk, for your egg wash
How to Make Chicken Pot Pie
Here are some crucial measures to follow before you begin, so that the process of making your homemade pot pie goes as smoothly as your saucy filling.
Prepare the dough for your double-crust pie. First, make sure your dough is prepared the day before and refrigerated for at least thirty minutes.
If time is short, this recipe can be made with:
- Good-quality puff pastry or store-bought crust.
- Use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery.
- You may even cook and cut your chicken a few days in advance.
Assemble your workspace. To make cooking go more quickly, have your vegetables and herbs cut and ready to go before you start.
Chicken Pot Pie Filling With Cream Cheese
Cook your vegetables until they are soft. Add all of your vegetables to a large Dutch oven or heavy bottom pan with melted butter. They should be soft, but avoid overcooking them to the point of mush. Keep in mind that they will finish cooking in the oven. This should need twenty to thirty minutes. Make careful to give the veggies an occasional toss to prevent browning.
In order to burn off the alcohol, add the white wine and heat for about one minute.
Add the flour and chicken and stir. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes, or until the flour flavor is completely cooked. Thick sauce is produced with the use of flour.
Bring the chicken stock to a boil after adding it. Add the cream cheese and cook until it thickens. Add extra chicken stock to thin the sauce if it’s too thick.
Before adding the chicken pot pie mixture to the crust, let it cool a little. If not, the filling, which is still hot from the stove, will melt the crust before it bakes.
Chicken Pot Pie Crust
Use a 9-inch glass baking dish to keep an eye on the crust’s browning for the most consistently bronzed crust. Not as lovely as it seems in the photo, but really, who cares when the pie itself is the star of the show?
Get the pie dough ready. Before spreading it out, if you’re preparing a handmade crust, prepare it and chill it for at least half an hour. This enables the gluten to settle and the flour to get wet. Prepare the pie crust dough up to three days in advance.
Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for approximately five minutes before attempting to roll it again if it feels difficult.
After cutting vents into the pot pie dough, brush the pie with egg wash. Your pot pie will have an enticingly glossy, shining, golden brown top thanks to this.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 400°F, or until the pie is bubbling and golden brown.
How to Prevent Sogging of the Chicken Pot Pie Bottom Crust
Don’t worry, this pot pie recipe shouldn’t result in a mushy bottom. Nothing should be too thin; a pie filling that is too liquid would result in a soggy bottom. Your sauce will cook up lovely and thick if you reduce the wine and chicken stock and add the flour and cream cheese.
FAQS
Is the Chicken in Pot Pies Already Cooked?
Indeed. As I do, you can cook your own chicken breasts, but it’s also simple to purchase a rotisserie chicken from the shop.
Can I Freeze Chicken Pot Pie?
Indeed, you can put this chicken pot pie together in advance and freeze it for up to three months. Put this pot pie together, but DO NOT BAKE IT, if you want to freeze it.
Before freezing, cover the prepared, unbaked pot pie—including the pie plate—with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.
How Long to Bake a Frozen Chicken Pot Pie
Do not defrost; instead, bake a frozen chicken pot pie frozen for 60 to 65 minutes at 400°F.
How to Reheat Chicken Pot Pie Leftovers
To make sure your leftover chicken pot pie tastes as good as it did the day you cooked it, try this tried-and-true method for warming leftovers:
- Just to defrost, microwave your slice for around one minute.
- After covering your slice with foil, bake it at 325°F for ten to fifteen minutes.
- Take off the foil from the pie’s top, exposing it, and bake it for a further five minutes.
More Recipes You Might Like
- Southern Sweet Potato Pie
- Honey Roasted Apples and Potatoes
- One Pot Broccoli Penne
- Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium yellow onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 large celery ribs medium-diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 large carrots peeled and medium-diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 russet potato peeled and medium-diced (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for topping pie
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast cooked and chopped (about 2 cups)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup white wine (nothing fancy but one that you’d drink)
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups chicken stock from better than bouillon chicken base
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 recipe all butter pie crust for a double crust pie
- 1 egg
- half and half or milk for egg wash
Instructions
For the filling:
- In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add the potato, carrots, celery, and onion. Add the celery seed and thyme after seasoning with salt and pepper. Sauté for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and the onions are transparent. Occasionally stir to prevent browning of the veggies. In order to burn off the alcohol, add the white wine and heat for about one minute.
- Add the flour, peas, and chicken and stir. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes or until the flour flavor is completely cooked.
- Add the chicken stock and stir. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for three to five minutes, or until it thickens. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted. After turning off the heat, give the filling ten minutes or so to cool.
To assemble the pot pie:
- Roll out the dough by placing half of it on a flour-dusted tabletop and dusting it with flour. To soften the dough, dust the rolling pin with flour and roll it six or eight times over the dough. Turn the dough over, give it a quick dusting of flour, and rap it once more, but in the other direction.
- Roll the dough away from you, starting in the middle and giving it a quarter turn every couple of passes. Turn the dough over and roll it out again, rolling from the center out. Each time, give the dough a quarter turn and dust the roller and flour as necessary.
- Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch and make it a few inches bigger than the glass pie pan (9 inches). Gently fold the dough in half, then lift it from the rolling surface into the pan in one motion. The dough circle should be unfolded and carefully eased into the pan. The dough will shrink and bounce back as it heated up in the oven if you press it down too much into the pan.
- Set oven temperature to 400°F.
- Pour the slightly chilled chicken filling mixture into the pie pan, adjusting the filling level if necessary in the center. Place the remaining pie dough disk, which you have rolled out, on top of the pie. Making a large edge, fold the top and bottom layers of pie dough beneath one another on the pie pan’s lip. Repeat along the crust’s edges, crimping the edge with a fork’s tines or fluteing it by pressing your knuckle between the middle finger and index finger of your opposing hand.
- Brush the top of the pie crust with one egg that has been whisked with a little milk or half and half. Add a small pinch of kosher salt and a few freshly ground black pepper (optional). Make three to five incisions on the pie’s top. Pie should be baked for 45 to 50 minutes, or until bubbling and golden brown, on a sheet pan. To let the filling to solidify, cool for ten to thirty minutes before serving.